Finding Maggie
by teamswitzerland130576
Summary: Alice Brandon lives in Vail, Colorada with her two best friends Marie Swan and Rose McCarty. One day, Alice comes home and cannot find her little sister, Maggie. Now it's up to Alice and her friends to find Maggie! Can they find her before it's too late?


**This is a story i had to write for English. I thought i'd put it up and let you guys read it. Beware! it is really long!!! Very long!! But i'm putting it all up now so, here it is! Please Read!!**

Finding Maggie

Preface

I ran down the dark hallway, gasping for breath, searching for some way, any way, out of this horrible nightmare that had now become a reality. My life had never been very exciting. Well, exciting isn't really the word. It's more like, Terrifying. It's a horrible feeling, to know that you may be caught at any moment. I kept running through this labyrinth of darkness, until I felt a strong hand on my shoulder. I screamed.

One

It was the middle of January in Vail, Colorado. You could see at least three feet of snow piled up everywhere you looked. It was already cold but the wind made it feel frigid. Usually, the sun would shine uselessly through the clouds. But not today. Today, the clouds hung ominously above the grey sky, and there was no sun to add light. You could just tell that today would be a bad day.

I was riding home with my friends, Marie Swan and Rose McCarty. My mom and dad usually worked until five o'clock, so I always got a ride from my friends. I wasn't really paying attention to their conversation today. It was probably about the school dance at the end of the week. Normally, I would be chattering away with them. But instead, I just stared at the trees we passed as we drove by.

"Alice! Earth to Alice!" Marie said, poking me in the side.

"What?" I asked, rubbing where she had poked.

"I asked if you wanted to come over today. And we could, like, go to the mall and pick out dresses for the dance." Rose said. I thought about it. It would be nice to go to the mall, (I love shopping) and I desperately needed a new dress for the dance.

"Sorry guys, I can't today. Angela is going out with Emmett for dinner today, so I have to watch Maggie." I told them. Angela and Maggie were my sisters. Emmett was Angela's fiancé.

"Oh, that's too bad. Maybe tomorrow." She said as we pulled up to my house.

"'Kay. Thanks Mrs. McCarty." I said. Rose's mom turned around.

"No problem, Alice. Hey, tell your mom I said hi, okay?" She said.

"I will. Bye you guys!" I called after the car. I waved as the car drove away. When it was gone, I walked up the path to my house. I got out my keys to open the door, put it was already opened. Huh, that's funny. It's always supposed to be locked. Maybe Maggie just forgot today. I walked inside and hung up my stuff. I saw Maggie's stuff in the middle of the floor. That's funny too; her stuff is usually already hung up.

"Maggie! Come downstairs and put your stuff away." I yelled. I waited a few minutes. No Maggie. "Maggie! Come here now!" I yelled again. I waited a few more minutes. Still no Maggie.

Okay Alice, don't panic. She's probably just outside climbing trees.

'In the middle of winter?' My common sense showed up. 'Come on Alice, be reasonable. Something's wrong, you need to call your mom.' But all I could do was shake my head. I ran outside and yelled for Maggie. There was no answer. I ran back inside and looked through every single room for her. After ten minutes, I decided it was time to call my mom. I ran downstairs and grabbed the phone. Just as I was about to call my mom, the phone rang. I answered it right away, hoping it would be my mom telling me that she had Maggie and that everything would be alright.

"Mom, its Ali-"

"Alice! Alice! Help me!" I felt as if someone had poured a bucket of ice down my back.

"M- Maggie, is that you? What's wron-"

"Listen closely." I was filled with ice cold terror as I heard, not Maggie's voice, but another raspy, rough, menacing, evil voice. "I have your sister. If you want her back, you must pay $1.5 million dollars. If it is not paid in full in four days, in will mean big trouble for Maggie. If you pay the money, then she will be on your doorstep on the fifth morning. Understand?"

"Where do we pay the m-money?" I asked, faintly.

"Oh, go to Cadwell Park. Do you know where the statue of Marcus Black is? There will be a big black box. Put the money in the box. You got that?" The Voice asked.

"Yes." I whispered. As The Voice had said those words, a confusing map laid itself out in my mind. I saw the statue and everything.

"Oh, and one more thing. You have to come alone. If you bring someone, and I will know, then it would mean very big trouble for Maggie." The Voice said, menacingly.

"Don't hurt her!" I yelled into the phone.

"Relax Alice. Nobody's going to hurt her… yet." The Voice chuckled evilly.

"Fine." I whispered faintly.

"Goodbye Alice. You have four days." Then The Voice was gone. The phone line went dead.

No, No, No, No!!! This could not be happening! I had to call my mom, have her tell me that this was just a bad dream. But my fingers were shaking so hard, I couldn't press the buttons. It didn't seem real. I couldn't breath, I couldn't speak, I couldn't move. I was just _there. _

Then reality hit. My sister had been kidnapped. We had to pay money that we didn't have to get her back. What were we going to do?! The truth hit me like a wrecking ball. The plain truth, we could not pay the money. We couldn't pay the ransom. We were going to _lose _my little sister.

The last thing I remember was feeling the cold, wooden flooring beneath me before I passed out.

Two

"Alice! No! My daughter! Alice!" My mother's voice yelled at someone, but I didn't see. The name Maggie made me feel sad but I couldn't remember why.

"Mom?" I spoke faintly.

"Alice! Thank God you're alright!" My mother rushed to my side.

"Maggie." I said, trying to remember. Suddenly, it all came back to me. No Maggie, the phone call, The Voice, everything. I gasped. "Mom, it's horrible! Call the police! Maggie's gone, kid – kidnapped!" My mom's breathing sped up.

"What happened?" My mom yelled. "John! John! Get in here! Bring Cynthia. Alice has information!" We waited a few minutes while my mother paced the floor. Then my father and another woman whom I gathered was Cynthia. She was pretty with shoulder length honey blonde hair and hazel eyes. She pulled out a note pad and she smiled at me.

"Hi! I'm Cynthia Wilson. I'll be the officer working with your family on Maggie's case." She said. "So, your mother said something about new information."

"Um, yeah. When I got home from school …." I continued telling her my story of when I got home from school.

Three

"How old is she?"

"Seven."

"How tall is she?"

"3'll""

"How much does she weigh?"

"70 pounds."

"When did you see her last?"

"This morning."

"Okay, I'll need a recent picture of her."

"I'll get one." My dad spoke for the first time. We stared at him as he walked out of the room.

"What grade is she in?" Cynthia continued asking me questions.

"Second"

These questions went on all night. My father came back in about half way through with a picture. Finally, at about one in the morning, she left to let me sleep. She said that she would call if they got any new information.

I was so tired from today's events that I fell asleep the minute my head hit the pillow.

That night, I dreamed of Maggie. In my dream, well, more like nightmare, she was bound and gagged in a corner of a dark room. I was there too, yearning to help her, but I couldn't move. I felt like I was trapped in a cage as Maggie struggled against her ropes with tears falling down her face. I was screaming, hoping that someone would hear me and help us, but no one ever showed up.

Then I woke up, sweat trickling down my neck. I looked at my clock. It was four o'clock in the morning. I sighed. I was never going to get back to sleep. If I did, I would have more nightmares about Maggie. I decided to get a shower to wash the memory of the dream away. I turned on the warm water and felt my tension immediately melt away. But then I remembered Maggie. How cold she must be, not knowing where she is or what will happen to her. Just thinking about it gave me goose bumps.

Ten minutes later, I sat in my bed with a book. I decided that if I couldn't go back to sleep, I would relax myself by reading. That always calmed me. I adjusted my pillows and got comfy. I opened my book.

"_Tristan! Where are we?" She yelled at him. She looked around and saw clouds all around her. She looked down and saw that they were standing on a cloud. She screamed, afraid that she would fall down. She looked over to Tristan. He was looking around too, but instead of screaming, he was laughing. He laughed as the rain fell and hit him._

"_I think we are in the sky, Maggie!" He exclaimed. Suddenly there was a loud-_

I slammed the book shut. I could not read that. I put it down and picked up another book randomly off my shelf. I opened it and started reading. About two seconds later I slammed that book too. The main characters name was Maddie, but that resembled Maggie too closely. I lay my head down on my pillow and realized how tired I was. I turned my light off and curled up under the covers, trying not to think about Maggie. I felt a tear rolled down my cheek. I thought about how it was impossible that we could pay 1.5 million dollars. We would never get her back. I cried at the thought. That night, I cried myself to sleep.

Four

I woke up at 8:00 and got ready for school. I got up and brushed my hair and put on an outfit to wear to school. I ran downstairs and grabbed something to eat. Then, I brushed my teeth and put my shoes on. All I had left to do now was to wait. My father came downstairs, pulled on his jacket and shoes, and then we left for school. No one spoke that morning. At all. I guess we were all a little messed up because Maggie wasn't here. Finally, we pulled up to my school. I gave my dad a quick kiss on the cheek before getting out of the car and walking up the steps to the doors.

School seemed unnatural. Everybody was so light and talkative. They were all talking about the school dance this Friday. I made my way quietly to my locker, then to homeroom. I realized that I had not done my English homework. I quickly pulled the sheet out to keep me occupy myself. I was half way done when the first period bell rang.

I gathered my stuff and left the room. I walked to my first period study hall. This was one of the classes that I had with Rose and Marie. We sat at our usual table and before I could say one word, Rose looked at me and said,

"You aren't smiling! Something must be wrong! Tell us what happened!" I smiled. Well, it was more like a grimace.

"If you had waited about five more seconds, I would have told you. Now, I don't think I will." I said, joking around with them.

"Please, please, please, please!!!! We'll be your best friends!!" Rose smiled. Marie looked up from her book.

"Please keep me out of this. Unless Alice wants to tell us, then I don't want to hear it." She said, going back to her book.

"Well, fine. I'll tell you." I said. Despite her words, Marie put her book down and stared intently at me, listening. I took a deep breath. "Maggie's been kidnapped." I said. I could tell that that was not what they were expecting. Marie ran to me and gave me a hug. Rose stayed in her seat, her eyes glistening with tears.

"Oh Alice! I'm sooo Sorry!!! I didn't – I never… I'm so sorry, I never should have asked." Rose whispered. Marie said almost the exact same thing.

"You guys, I don't want any one else to know so please don't tell any one else, okay?" They both nodded. "Thanks." I looked down to finish the rest of my English paper. I sighed. Today was going to be a very long day.

Five

_Rrrrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnngggggg!!!! _The end of the day bell rang joyously throughout our school. But I didn't feel happy at all. I morosely got up and put my stuff in my locker.

"Alice, do you want a ride today?" Marie came up behind me and asked me.

"Um, no. I'm going to walk home today." I told her. She was silent for a minute.

"Okay, we'll come with you. I'll be right back. Meet me outside beside the statue of Tia Lee, okay?" She walked off, not waiting for an answer. I walked outside and was standing by the statue. It was quiet for about thirty seconds, and then I heard a low chuckle right behind me. I jumped and turned around. Right behind me stood Emmett's younger brother, James. Who knew that two brothers could be so different? Emmett was nice, loving, and fun. But James was mean, spiteful, and rude.

"A little scared today, Alice?" He said, laughing. I scowled at him.

"What do you want James?" I asked him, sneering his name. He laughed at me.

"Now Alice, is that anyway to greet an old friend?" He asked, laughing again. Wow, he laughs a lot.

"FRIENDS??!! You must be delusional if you think that we were ever friends!" I yelled at him.

"Oh Alice, how's _Maggi_e been lately? Have she been getting herself in to any _trouble_ lately?" He asked me. I gasped. He got a small smile on his face.

"How-how did you know?" I asked, astonished.

"Know what?" He said a bigger, evil smile on his face. Just then, Marie and Rose ran up behind me.

"Alice, what's wrong?!" Marie exclaimed. She looked and saw James standing there. "You!! What did you do to her?!!!" She glared at him.

"Nothing. Let's go." I whispered faintly.

"Are you sure?" She asked. I nodded. Sending one more glare at James, I walked away with Rose and Marie. When we were alone, I told them everything that happened. When I was done, I started to wander.

"You guys, I think that James took Maggie." I told them. Their eyes got really big what I said that. I looked around and saw a figure walking a head of us. I recognized it as Ben Carson, one of my other best friends. "Hold that thought, I think I see Ben." I said. I called his name and He looked back. I ran up to him, Marie and Rose following me.

"Hey, Ben." I said breathlessly.

"Hey Alice." He said, smiling. I had to tell him about Maggie.

"Ben, you remember Maggie, my little sister, right?" He nodded. "Well, yesterday, she was kidnapped." Every time I said that it sent a new wave of panic through me. Ben's expression was similar to Marie's expression when I told her.

"Maggie's gone?" He asked in alarm. I nodded. "That would explain…" He smacked himself in the forehead. "Duh! Alice, I have some information that might help. I was walking home yesterday and I walked past your house when I heard a scream. I t sounded like Maggie, so I stopped to listen. I heard a gruff voice yelling from inside your house. I was about to go in when the door started opening. I jumped behind a bush in your front yard. I saw a man with short black hair walk out and put something in a car. I didn't see his face. Then I was going to see if anything had been stolen, but my mom called and said that I had to go watch the neighbor's kids."

I just stood there, listening to all the information. Dang! This means that it couldn't be James, because Ben said he saw black hair and James has blond.

"Ben, can I see your cell phone. I need to call Cynthia to give her this information." I asked him. He pulled out his cell phone.

"Uh, yeah. Just one question. Who is Cynthia?" he asked.

"Cynthia Wilson is the police officer helping us on Maggie's case." I told him.

"Hello, this is Officer Wilson speaking." I heard her answer the phone.

"Hey Cynthia, this is Alice Brandon. I have someone with some information about Maggie." I told her.

"Oh, okay. What is it?" she asked me. I told her what Ben just told me. "Is he still there?" She asked.

"Yeah, he's standing right next to me."

"Can I talk to him?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure." I said, handing him the phone. He started talking to Cynthia and Rose pulled me and Marie aside.

"You guys, I had a brilliant idea! We should try and look for Maggie. Like detectives!!" She said. We just stared at her.

'Oh, and I almost forgot, I got the license plate number too. It was XN2YZR7. Okay. I'll tell her." We heard Ben talking into the phone.

A license plate number. That was good. Now they could tell whose car it was. And catch the kidnapper, and then find Maggie! Then she would be home, safe again.

But what if they couldn't trace the car? What if it was under a false name? Then Maggie would still be out there somewhere. No, they had to find her. They _would_ find her. And then, then she would be home, safe again.

"It might be fun!" Marie said.

"What?" I asked.

"Being detectives! Weren't you listening?" Rose said with a sigh. "I thought that we could find out who the kidnapper is and find Maggie ourselves!"

"Fine." I said, grudgingly. But the truth was, being detectives sounded really cool. I mean, you get to look for clues and sneak around. And then we wouldn't have to pay the money. "But we only have three more days." I told them.

Just then, Ben came walking back over.

"I have some good news." He said."They said that the car was a rental from Charlie Evens Rent-a-Car and that they would get someone down there ASAP."

"Why don't we go there? It will be the perfect place start!" Rose exclaimed. Ben looked confused so we filled him in on what we had decided to do.

"We're going to be detectives!" Marie said."And we're going save Maggie!" Ben thought for a moment.

"I'm in," He said. "Don't you girls need someone to protect you, right?" He asked, faking to be macho.

"Totally! But," I sighed. "Where will we ever find anybody who is strong, brave, and handsome?" I asked, pretending to look around. Ben knew I was just teasing him, but he pretended to look hurt. But his expression soon turned into a smile.

"Okay, let's go!" Said Marie. We all called our parents to tell them where we were going. Then we dropped our stuff off at our house. Finally, we were off, to find Maggie.

Six

After about eleven minutes, we were in front of the rental store. We all walked inside. Ben and I walked up to the front desk.

"Excuse me." I said. The man behind the desk looked up.

"How can I help you?" He said in a bored tone.

"We were wondering if you could tell us the name of the last person to rent the car with the license plate number XN2YZR7." The man got up and walked back into a room. When he came back out, he had a folder in his hand.

"Felix Scholl." He said, in the same bored tone.

"Thanks!" We said. And then we went back to the others. We all left to get a snack from the coffee shop across the street. Once we were inside and sitting with our drinks, I told them what the man had said.

"He said it was Felix Scholl. Do you guys have any idea who that is?" I asked hopelessly.

"Oh, I know! He works at this little gun shop down the road. My dad buys stuff from there all the time." Rose exclaimed.

"Great! That's were we'll go next." I said. Ten minutes later, after we had thrown away our trash, we were out walking in the direction that Rose told us. A few minutes later, we were in front of the shop.

"Let me go first." Ben said, stepping in front of us. We walked inside the store and looked around. It was a very small shop. It looked very dirty and grungy. Guns lined all up along the walls. Ben walked up to the counter.

"Hello, I was wondering if I could speak with Mr. Scholl?" Ben asked.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Scholl is away on a business trip." The boy behind the counter said.

"Thanks anyway." Ben said, walking back to us.

"Conner! Get back here!" a female voice yelled from the backroom. The boy, Conner, eyed us suspiciously. Then he left to go to the back room.

Ben motioned for us to follow him. We went up to the door and pressed our ears against it so we could listen to their conversation.

"Conner! What did that boy want?!" The female asked harshly.

"He just wanted to talk to Felix." The boy said in defense.

"Well, what did you say?!" She asked in alarm.

"I just said that he was away on a business trip." He said, sounding scared.

"That's good. We can't have them find out that he's at River's Mansion." She said.

"You mean the one near Cadwell Park?" He asked. "What's he doing there?"

"Never you mind!" She seemed to regret saying anything. "Just go back out there and tell those kids to go home. It's almost nine o'clock."

"Fine." He said. We heard shuffling noises and jumped back from the door. We left the store hurriedly. The lady in the back was right. It was nine o'clock. We decided to have a sleep over. Well, the girls would have a sleep over. Ben went home, but he said that he would call at eight o'clock so that we could investigate the mansion. We said bye to him and then we walked to my house. We went up to my room, rolled out our sleeping bags, and got into our pjs. We crawled into our sleeping bags and went over today's events. Rose was the first one to fall asleep. All that talking really tired her out. Marie and I stayed up talking till one in the morning. The last thing I remember talking about was Maggie.

_**Flashback**_

"_**I wander how Maggie is right now." She commented. **_

"_**Probably terrified. I know I would be." I said, suddenly sad.**_

"_**Yeah, to not be able to know if you could ever see your family again or if you could ever get out of the nightmare." She said. My eyes were brimming with tears.**_

"_**Yeah." I mumbled through my tears. She looked at me and it dawned on her.**_

"_**Oh, Alice! I'm so sorry!! I shouldn't have said anything!" She exclaimed, giving me a hug.**_

_**End of Flashback**_

Seven

We woke up around seven-thirty in the morning. We all got up and got ready for our day of investigating the mansion. As he said, Ben called at eight o'clock. We planned to leave in five minutes to meet up with him.

"But I didn't get to have breakfast yet!" Rose yelled.

"Oh well, why don't you go and eat while Marie, Ben, and I will go save my sister." I said sarcastically. She got an offended look on her face.

"I didn't mean… I'm sorry Alice. I shouldn't have said anything. I'll just grab a granola bar." She said, walking into the kitchen.

Five minutes later, we met up with Ben. He had on a pair of jeans and a blue sweatshirt. He smiled when he saw us.

"Are we ready for our day of breaking and entering?" He asked, laughing. I nodded.

"Come on you guys. If we're going to find the mansion, sneak into the mansion, find Maggie, escape with Maggie, and make it home in time for dinner, we better start now." I said, smiling at them. We started of on our grand adventure, to find Maggie.

Fifteen minutes later, we were at Cadwell Park. There weren't any kids there so early in the morning. We walked around for a while until we saw an outline of a huge building in the woods. We all started walking towards it, silently. About seven minutes later, I could see the entire thing. It was a dull, grimy looking thing full of decaying wood and other unknown things. And to think that's where they were keeping Maggie. I shuddered.

"There it is." I whispered. "What do we do now?" I asked Ben.

"Well, why don't we start by trying to find someway in." he suggested.

"Good idea. How about Rose and Marie take the left side of the building to search, and Ben and I will take the right side." I said. They all nodded.

"Oh, I almost forgot. I brought two flashlights so that we could see because it's probably very dark in there." Ben said, handing Marie a flashlight. "Okay, and remember, if anything happens, scream. Scream as loud as you can. If you find a way to get in, start looking for Maggie. If you find her, and escape, got to your house and call me on my cell phone, okay?" We all nodded. "Let's go." He said. Marie and Rose started walking quietly to the left side of the building and Ben and I walked towards the right. I was looking for windows that were high enough for us to reach. I was looked down for a moment and saw something.

"Ben, look at this" I said, pointing to the ground. There, underneath dirt and leaves was a window small enough for Ben and me to get through.

"It's perfect." He whispered. Getting down on his knees, he handed me the flash light and told me to hold it at the window. After ten minutes of working on it. He finally got it open.

"I'll go first." I said, pushing him aside. He nodded. He held the flash light over the opening and waited for me. I took a deep breath and then bent down and slide through the window. I landed on my butt. Ewwww! It was all dirty and gross. I looked around. I couldn't see much except for what was bathed in the light of the flashlight. A few seconds later, I heard Ben slide through. He landed on his feet. He asked if I was okay. I nodded, and we continued walking through what seemed to be the basement of the building. We found the stairs after a few minutes and started walking up them.

_Cccccrrrreeeeeaaaakkkkkk! _Oh shoot! The stairs creaked as we walked up them. We stood very still every few seconds, not to draw attention to ourselves. I could feel my heart pounding in my ears and I could feel the adrenaline pulsing through my blood.

Finally, we reached the top of the stairs. Ben looked around and we continued walking. Then I heard it. I stopped dead in my tracks. Ben stopped too. I strained to hear what it was.

It was a faint whimpering sound, coming from directly above us. It sounded like someone was crying. I knew who that someone was. I was filled with rage as I stood there, listening to my sister's cries of agony. I could just feel the anger boiling in my blood.

But then there was another noise. A noise that seemed closer, more real. It was a creak of a floor board. Behind me, I heard a dark chuckle and whirled around. Ben shinned the flash light in his face and the man yelled.

"Run Alice run!! Run and find Maggie! Go Now!!" Ben yelled at me. I bolted out of there like a bat out of hell. I ran. Ran for my life, ran for Ben's life, and I ran for Maggie's life. I couldn't hear Ben anymore. I was just running silently down the hallway, hoping someone wouldn't hear my gasps for breath. As I turned another corner, I saw a light at the end of it. I stared running faster. Maggie, Maggie, Maggie. It was the only name that was in my head right now. It made me run even faster. Dang, this hallway was long! Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder and I screamed. I felt another hand close over my mouth.

"Alice, it's me." I heard Ben's voice behind me and immediately stopped struggling. I turned to face him.

"Ben, how did you escape?" I whispered. Then from behind me became and noise.

"He didn't." said an evil voice. Then everything went black. Again.

Eight

I opened my eyes and took in the dark room that I was in, lit by a very small lamp. There was a bed pushed up against one side of the room, a desk beside the door, and a dresser in the corner. There was a window beside the bed.

I registered the other people in the room. There was Ben, who was still seemed knocked out and then there was a red-headed figure. Maggie!!! We found Maggie!!!! But unfortunately, we had gotten caught in the process.

"Maggie!" I whispered. I saw her little head jerk up and look around. Then she looked over and saw me. A huge smile crossed her face.

"Alice!!!! It's you!!!!" She exclaimed. She rolled over to me because her hands and feet were tied. I looked down. My hands and feet were tied too. I scooted closer to her and huddled with her. I felt her tears falling into my lap.

"I missed you so much!" she said through her tears.

"Oh, what a touching reunion." A cold voice from the door way said. I looked up and Maggie shrank away. Ben jerked awake.

"What do you want, Felix?" Ben asked him, sneering the name. He looked at Ben in surprise. So did I. I guess Ben was just pretending to be knocked out still.

"You seem to be at an advantage. You see, you know my name, but I don't know yours." Felix said in that awful voice of his. Ben looked at me, and I shook my head ever so slightly. Ben looked back to Felix.

"Let's keep it that way, shall we." Ben said in a voice just as cold as Felix's. I looked around the room, trying to find a way out.

"Perhaps you will be more cooperative if we put some excitement into it." He said, pulling a gun out of his coat. I could feel the terror rising in my heart as he slowly turned to point the gun towards me. My heart beat began to fly. I turned to look at Ben and saw the pure terror in his eyes. I shook my head slightly again. I was not going to give into Felix. Not yet, at least.

Nine

I looked around the room again and saw something that might save us. Then I saw them. Hope flickered in my eyes as I saw an old wooden chair above Felix's head. With a loud **Bang! **the chair came crashing down on his head. He fell to the ground with a **Thud!** and the gun went sliding under the bed. Behind Felix's fallen body, stood a terrified Marie and Rose, shaking. It took all of us a few seconds for us to register what had happened. Then I looked at Ben and he looked at me.

"Yay!!!! I shouted, in relief that we had managed to live through that. I saw Marie and Rose smile and Ben with a huge grin on his face. I looked at Maggie and she was looking at me.

"Does this mean we can go home?" She asked me.

"Yes Maggie, we can go home." I said smiling at her. "How do you get out of these ropes?" I asked.

"Here, let me help." said Ben. Whoa. How did Ben get out of his ropes? He came over and pulled out a pocket knife. Oh, that's how. After a few minutes, Maggie and I were both free from our bindings. When I was free, I gave Maggie a huge hug, I gave Marie and Rose hugs for saving us, and last was Ben. I looked up at him and gave him a hug for helping me find Maggie. He gave me a kiss on the cheek. I blushed scarlet, smiling.

"Let's go home!" Marie said.

"What about Felix?" I asked. "Are we just going to leave him here so that he can escape when he wakes up?"

"I thought of that." Ben said. Handing me his cell phone he said, "Here, why don't you call Cynthia and tell her where we are."

"Great idea!" I said, taking the phone. I told her where we were and that we had found Maggie. She said that she would send a car right over to get us and notify our parents on what we had done.

Ten minutes later, we heard the engine of a car and saw the police car in the window. We yelled at them to come up here and they took Felix and handcuffed him. They told us that they had a different police car to ride in. Maggie had never let go of my arm once since we had called Cynthia. I could tell that she was exhausted. When we got in the car and were on our way home, I looked over to her.

"You know, you are allowed to sleep." I told her. She looked at me and shook her head.

"I don't want to sleep, because I'm afraid that if I close my eyes, I figure out that this is all just a dream, and that I'm still in that horrible house." She looked at me. "I'm just going to stay up and be with you, so that if it turns out that it really was a dream, it will have been a good one." She sighed and laid her head down on my lap.

I looked down at her and started stroking her hair. I felt my tears fall down onto her hair as we pulled up to the house. I was so happy to see my mom and dad again and I knew Maggie was too. We all went inside and I saw Cynthia sitting on the couch. We sat down and I told her everything that happened, from when we went to the car rental store, to the chair above Felix's head. She was hoping to question Maggie, but Maggie was fast asleep. My father carried her upstairs and put her to bed. I was soon to follow. I was so tired. It felt good to lie down. That was the best night of sleep I ever had, because my sister was finally home.

Ten

When I woke up around nine o'clock in the morning, I called Cynthia. I wanted to get some information about why Felix did what he did.

"Well, he confessed to everything. He said that he saw Maggie walking home from school and went inside the house. He said that he knocked her out and put her in a black duffle bag, then took her out to the mansion. Then he called you with the ransom. He said that he did it because his shop was about to go out of business and that he needed the money to pay for the bills. He has been arrested for kidnapping. Is there any other information that you wanted?" She asked me.

"Nope." I said, popping the 'p'. "But I just wanted to say thank you for helping us.

"No problem." She said. "Tell your parents I'll call them later, okay?"

"Okay. Bye." I said, hanging up the phone. I was still tired. But then the phone rang again. I answered it.

"Hey Alice, where are you?!" I heard Rose ask my on the other line.

"What do you want Rose?" I asked her.

"We are going dress shopping, for the dance, remember?" She said.

"Oh, Rose, I don't think I'm going." I told her.

"Oh, yes you are. You have a date." She informed me.

"Who?" I asked. I had never said yes to anyone. No one had ever asked me.

"Ben, silly." She said, as if it was obvious. "See, just listen."

"Uh, Alice?" It was Ben's voice. "I was wondering if you wanted to go to the dance with me." I was shocked, but excited.

"Yeah, sure." I said.

"Okay, then get your butt down here to pick out a dress for tonight." said Rose, getting back on the phone.

"Fine. I'll be right there." I said.

"Oh, my mom is in your driveway. Just come outside." She said. "See you in a minute." She hung up. I got out of bed and got dressed. Today was going to be a long day.

Epilogue

My dad dropped me off to the doors of our school. I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and went inside. I found Marie and Rose but I couldn't find Ben. Where was he?

Then I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around. It was Ben dressed in a black tux. He looked at me in my floor length blue dress with and high heeled shoes.

"Shall we dance?" He asked, holding out his hand.

"Of, course." I said, taking it. We moved gracefully into the middle of the dance floor and started dancing. Well, it was more like gliding. It was a wonderful sensation. I leaned my head down on his shoulder as we continued to fly across the floor. I never wanted this moment to end. It was my tiny piece of heaven that I wanted to keep forever. This was the best day of my life. I had a date for a dance, we caught a kidnapper, and most importantly, we had found Maggie.

12


End file.
